


Call it Home

by melodramatic



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Child Abuse, Comfort, Fluff, High School, M/M, Malnutrition, Self-Harm, Self-Loathing, Smut, Time lapses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-23 14:53:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10721532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodramatic/pseuds/melodramatic
Summary: Tyler clutched his imagination tightly to his chest - it was all he had.Josh wanted to show him how just far imagination could take him.





	Call it Home

Every single morning, Tyler woke up in agony. Physically, he was fine - but mentally, he had never been in more pain.

He got out of the house as quickly as he could, not having the energy to even attempt at fighting his stepmother off, should the woman choose to attack him.

At school he sat alone. He walked to his class alone, and he ate lunch alone. 

It was a sad existence, and Tyler was ready to let go of it.

He was only eleven, but he was very much ready to let go of it.

His home was repulsive, his home gave him goosebumps (in the bad kind of way), and he did not call his home a home. He called it his house. He did not have a home. 

There was a place he slept, and a place he bathed. But there was no home.

"What do you think you're doing?" Tyler's stepmom asked one morning, her hands on her hip.

He looked down at the box of cereal he had taken from the cabinet, and then back up at her. 

"Getting some breakfast," He said slowly. 

She yanked the cereal box from him and brought it down hard atop his head, "Get the fuck out of my kitchen!" She yelled.

He instinctively crossed his arms over his head and then ran out of the front door, realizing too late that he forgot his backpack. And if he didn't have his backpack, he didn't have his house keys.

So he sighed and turned the knob to the front door. It was locked. Of course it was.

He knocked.

No one answered.

He looked through the windows and could see his parents moving about their daily routine. He knocked harder, and they both looked his way, but neither of them came to the door.

He sighed again and headed to school, with none of the materials he needed.

At lunch he sat alone. He was starving - he hadn't eaten breakfast, and his parents hadn't signed the waiver for him to be able to get the free food that the school provided, so he sat by a tree in the backyard of the school and closed his eyes. 

He dreamed of living alone one day, and stocking his refrigerator full of food that he could have all to himself. He dreamed of maybe even getting married and having his own kids. He'd treat his family right, and his kids would never go to school hungry.

He'd put little notes in their lunch boxes to brighten their day just a little bit more. He'd kiss them goodnight, kiss them goodmorning, and remind them on a daily basis how much he loved them.

Oh, he'd be such a good father.

The sunlight that shone through the leaves of the tree warmed him, and he felt so nice in that moment. 

But when he opened his eyes, he was still at school. His head was still pounding from a lack of food, his vision still begged for less light, and his stomach still felt so empty it hurt.

Suddenly, there was a shadown blocking the light from the sun.

Tyler looked up to see a boy around his age, holding a textbook in one hand, his other hand in his pocket.

For some reason, Tyler felt like he had been caught in an act he shouldn't have been participating in, so he rushed to stand up, his balance being thrown off for a second.

"Oh, careful," The other boy said, putting a hand on Tyler's arm to help steady him.

"Sorry," Tyler mumbled.

The boy shook his head, "You don't - I was just coming over here to see if you were okay. I couldn't tell weather you were asleep or dead."

Tyler chuckled, "Yeah, I'm okay."

The boy stuck his hand out, "I'm Josh, by the way. I'm in Ms. Anderson's class."

"I'm Tyler. I'm in Mr. Spillane's class."

The bell for them to return to class rang, and the other boy's eyebrows shot up.

"We shouldn't be late to class. Wanna walk together?"

Tyler shrugged, but didn't reject the company.

"Where's your backpack?" He asked.

"In my classroom," Tyler lied.

"Oh. I bring my backpack with me during recess. I like having it with me," Josh volunteered.

Tyler didn't say anything, but he didn't need to. Josh continued talking about his backpack until they reached Tyler's classroom.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Tyler. Thanks for walking with me," Josh said, waving goodbye as he walked in the opposite direction.

Tyler waved right back at him and gave him a small smile. The second he turned around, he wouldn't have been able to remember Josh's face if someone had a gun to his forehead.

His head hurt so bad - he was so hungry, he felt like he might throw up. It was contradictory, but it was how he felt.

Halfway through the rest of the day, Mr. Spillane told them to all get out their workbooks and flip to section A3. But Tyler's workbook was in his backpack. Which was at home.

"Why don't you have your workbook, Tyler?" The teacher asked.

"I forgot it," He lied for the second time within the hour.

His teacher tsked, "Just share with Jenna. You need to learn responsibility, Tyler. Do you know what responsibility means?"

Tyler nodded, but the teacher went on to explain anyways. 

When he was done, he went back to the front of the classroom and wrote out their assignment. Tyler turned to Jenna - he didn't know her that well, but she seemed nice enough.

She was quiet like him, but seemed to have no problem sharing. He was silently grateful.

He entered his house that day, and was glad when he found no one was home. He immediately went to the pantry, grabbed multiple snacks and ran to his room.

His mouth was watering before he could even get the wrappers open, and he made sure to finish before anyone else came home. 

But it didn't matter. Because he could hear heels clicking against the hardwood floor from his room. He heard cabinets opening and slamming shut. 

Suddenly, his bedroom door swung open so forefully, it cracked the wall it hit.

"Did you eat my food!?" The Woman asked, her face right in front of Tyler's.

Tyler didn't say anything - he was paralyzed.

"I asked you a fucking question!" She screamed.

"I-I-"

She pushed him down onto the bed and climbed on top of him, slapping him over and over again. He'd raise his hands to his face, but she would grab them and dig her nails so deep into his skin, that he'd yell out in pain.

"Don't eat my fucking food!" She growled through her teeth.

Tyler scrambled up to the head of his bed and tucked his knees close to his chest, tears beginning to fall from his face.

She slammed the door shut as she left, and Tyler was so afraid and so alone.

He wanted to die. In that moment, and in every moment that came after. He wished he had never been born.

Later on that evening, when he had calmed himself down and his hands had stopped bleeding, his father came into his room.

Tyler looked up from where he was getting his homework done.

"Hey, Ty. How was school?" He asked.

"Fine."

"Getting your homework done?"

"Yup."

"Is everything okay?"

 _You know it's not_ , is what Tyler wanted to say.

"Yup," He replied instead.

His father took a deep breath, "Okay. Have a goodnight, son."

Tyler turned his attention back down to his homework and didn't reply. His father knew exactly what was happening. He knew that the woman he had married turned out to be borderline psychotic, but even she had control of him.

There was nothing that he could do.

So he simply didn't ask.

And Tyler didn't tell.

And on some days, that was what killed Tyler the most.

....

Tyler blinked lazily at the whiteboard that he was supposed to be taking notes from.

But he couldn't concentrate. It had been almost a full four days since his last meal. Every sound and every light pierced his temple and caused an extreme pain he didn't even know he could feel. 

His hands shook, his vision was blurry, and his reaction time was so slow that his P.E. teacher yelled at him when his arms were too weak to catch the dodgeball. It hurt every bone in his body when the ball hit him and struck him out, but secretly he was glad he could just go and sit on the sidelines for the rest of the game.

He was so hungry, that he almost wasn't even hungry anymore.

The school didn't provide food for him, he was punished for eating at home, and his only friend was Josh who always offered him food, but Tyler declined.

He was afraid of taking Josh's food. So he did not.

Until one day, when Josh was walking him to his class and suddenly Tyler's knees gave out from under him, and he collapsed onto the ground - he was surrounded by darkness and was only conscious long enough to hear Josh gasp.

When he woke up, he was on a cold bed.

The nurse's office.

He breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't at home.

He lifted his head up to see Josh sitting in one of the chairs in front of the bed.

"Hey," He greeted excitedly, shifting in his seat, "You're awake."

Tyler laid his head back down on the pillow, "I wish I would've stayed asleep." He felt so sick. So, so sick. Tears welled behind his eyes and he was sure he was going to throw up what little he had in his system.

Josh furrowed his eyebrows, "Why?"

Although he shrugged, tears began to stream down his face. He brought his hands up to cover his eyes, and he heard Josh move from his seat.

And then there was a warm head on his shoulder, and then a warm arm around his waist. The position was a bit awkward, and probably strained Josh, but he didn't seem to mind very much.

"What's wrong?" Josh asked when Tyler seemed to calm down. He took his arm from around Tyler and his head from his shoulder, to look at him in the eyes.

Tyler hiccuped, and he wanted to tell Josh, but there was a strong filter in his head that kept from saying anything too revealing. His head was still pounding, his bones still ached, and his muscles were weak and stiff.

The door to the small room that they were in opened, and the nurse entered. She was a large woman with big brown eyes, and she was the exact opposite of Tyler's stepmom. 

Tyler was immediately warmed by her presence. 

"How are you feeling, Tyler?" She asked, putting a hand on his head.

"I'm fine," He said, despite the fact that he could be bleeding out and he'd probably still try to convince everyone that he was fine.

"You blood sugar is really low, y'know. Why haven't you been eating?"

Josh looked at him, and Tyler shrugged.

"Well, you need to eat, okay? It's not good for your body - especially at such a young age - to function on such little fuel," She told him.

He nodded and assured her that he'd be eating more, even though he hardly had control over it.

From then on, Josh would not take no as an answer when he'd offer Tyler something from his lunch.

Tyler became a bit more talkative, he even joked around with Josh, but it was awhile before he ever volunteered any important information.

It happened once when Josh invited Tyler over. 

Tyler had been subtly squirming in his chair where Josh was showing him a new video game he had downloaded.

"Do you need to use the bathroom?" Josh asked, turning towards him.

Tyler nodded and bit his lip.

"You know you can use our bathroom, right?"

Tyler's eyes flicked towards the wall, then back at Josh.

"Yeah, I know. I just don't know where it is."

"Why didn't you ask?"

Tyler shrugged.

Josh blinked and then lead him to the bathroom, filing Tyler's response under his "Things to Ask About Later" mental file.

In the bathroom, Tyler washed his hands slowly. His heart was beating out of his chest for no reason in particular. He hated the way he was so afraid to do anything - to ask for anything anymore. 

He hated this new person he had become. 

But he tried to shoo the thought from his mind  as he went back into the living room where Josh was still sitting on the family computer.

"Are you hungry?" Josh asked when Tyler sat back down next to him.

It was a simple yes or no question. He shouldn't have struggled with an answer, and he hated himself for not being able to say yes, he was hungry. 

Josh must've seen the conflict in his eyes, because he quickly restated the question.

"Let's take a break to eat. Is that okay?" Josh asked.

Tyler nodded, a lump in his throat.

Josh knew Tyler wouldn't serve himself, so he warmed up Mac & Cheese that had been leftover and scooped some out for himself, and then for Tyler. They sat on the living room couch and watched a show that Josh had remembered hearing Tyler talk about.

It was only three minutes into the first episode, but Josh could already tell that Tyler's mind wandered elsewhere. 

Unexpectedly, the boy spoke up.

"This is the first time I've eaten today."

Josh looked at him. He did notice that Tyler seemed to be getting thinner and thinner these days, but he didn't know what to say, so he said nothing.

"You didn't eat at home?" Josh asked.

Tyler shook his head, "I'm not allowed to."

"You're not allowed to eat?"

Again, the boy shook his head.

"Why not?" Josh asked, pausing the TV and turning to face Tyler fully.

But the second that all of the attention was on him, Tyler shut down completely. He looked down at his plate of food and shrugged.

Josh scooted closer to him, so that their arms were touching.

"You can always eat over here. At my house."

Tyler didn't make any indication that he even heard the sentence, but Josh knew he did.

They resumed the TV show, and Tyler stopped eating completely, which worried Josh. The boy was already so thin, and he had hardly touched the food that Josh served him.

But it was hard to approach the subject. Especially when Tyler leaned his head on Josh's shoulder and took a deep breath. As long as Tyler felt safe, then Josh was happy, really.

But when Tyler went home later that evening, Josh couldn't help but still feel that twist in his gut that kept him tossing and turning at night.

....

When Tyler was fifteen, he weighed 84 pounds. He was nothing but skin and bones, and it worried everyone except for his parents.

His grades had plummeted into the toilet, because of his inability to pay attention in class. He was constantly getting sent to the principle's office - his teachers did not take kindly to him falling asleep in class at random intervals.

Eventually, they set him up with regular meetings with his guidance counselor.

"Are you doing this to yourself on purpose, Tyler?"

He shook his head, but he knew she didn't believe him.

No one believed him. No one except Josh.

Josh who would hold him tight when he knocked on his window in tears. 

Josh who would promise him that one day, they'd move away from everything that was hurting Tyler.

Tyler looked up from where his head was in his hands, and he was sitting on the edge of Josh's bed. Josh rubbed a soothing hand up and down his back.

"Do you mean that?" He asked.

"Mean what?"

"You'd move away with me."

Josh's expression was earnest, and Tyler had never seen a face so beautiful.

"Of course I mean it. I'd run away with you tonight, if we could."

Tyler took a deep breath and wiped the tear tracks from his cheeks. He leaned his head on Josh's shoulder, and wrung his fingers in his hands.

"What would it be like?" Tyler asked softly.

Josh thought for a moment, "It'd be peaceful. And happy. You'd be happy."

Tyler thought he was finished crying, but apparently he was not. A few tears began to well up in his eyes.

"And what else?" He asked, hoping Josh didn't notice his tortured tone.

Maybe he did, maybe he didn't - either way he twirled a finger in the back of Tyler's hair as he thought even more.

"Well, I'd buy you all the food you could ever ask for. And you wouldn't ever have to be afraid of going into your own kitchen. Or your own house. We could watch funny movies together, and just make fun of the horrible acting the entire time. I'd make popcorn, and you could mix them with M&M's, like that time we did last week, remember? At first you thought you wouldn't like it, but then you loved it. And we-," Josh stopped talking when he heard Tyler sniffling. He craned his neck down to see that Tyler was bawling, but trying to keep himself silent by biting down on his fist. 

His eyes were squeezed tight, and Josh's heart was split in two.

He put both of his arms around Tyler and held him close to his chest, and when he pecked the top of his head, Tyler whimpered audibly.

"K-keep talking," Tyler sobbed, his breath hitching and unhitching.

"Are you sure?" Josh asked.

Tyler nodded, and still didn't look up to meet Josh's saddened gaze.

But, per Tyler's request, he kept talking. He spoke of everything that his imagination wanted him to speak of - he promised Tyler happiness, he promised Tyler comfort, and he promised Tyler warmth. 

The boy's tears eventually subsided, and he looked up at Josh with sunken eyes and a blotchy face. Josh kissed his forehead, and Tyler took a deep breath. 

"You wanna sleep here tonight?" Josh asked.

Tyler sighed, "I want to, but I can't. My stepmom would kill me if she found out that I snuck out."

And there was a fire in Josh's heart - he _loathed_ the woman that lived with Tyler. She hurt him so often and in such horrible ways, that he couldn't even blame Tyler when he saw long, organized scars littering the inside of his wrist, up to the inside of his elbow.

Of course, Josh tried to discourage him from the practice, but it was hard to find any sort of fault in him. Especially since he knew what Tyler went through on a daily basis.

So, most of the time, he simply traced the scars with his fingers and told Tyler how much he couldn't wait to live with him - just the two of them.

Tyler stood up from Josh's bed and enveloped him in a tight hug, burying his face in Josh's neck.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow," Josh said.

Tyler hummed and nodded.

"Thanks for letting me do this, by the way. At," He checked the time on his phone, "1:30 in the morning."

Josh put his hands in his pockets to keep himself from reaching out and touching Tyler, "Of course. You're my best friend, Ty. You can come over whenever. You know that."

"I know," Tyler breathed, dropping his gaze to the carpet, "I'll see you soon."

Josh nodded, and watched as Tyler hopped out of the window, and carefully made his way down to the ground. He flipped his hood on and put his hands in his jacket pockets, and made his way down the cold street back to his cold home.

That night, the only thing Tyler could think of was his future with Josh. Maybe it would actually happen, maybe it wouldn't, but either way he already felt a bt better just thinking about it. 

His room was freezing cold, and he shivered in his sleep. 

Probably because it was actually a garage that they didn't use, so they threw a mattress and a dresser in there and told Tyler that was where he'd be sleeping from now on.

It wouldn't have been that bad if he didn't wake up the next morning to find that the door had been locked from the outside that day.

He pounded his fist on the door - he needed to get to school.

Fuck school - he needed to see Josh.

"Let me out! I have to go to school!" He pleaded with a raspy voice.

The doorknob twisted, before it suddenly stopped.

"Don't let him out," A stern voice ordered, "His grades are already bad enough, he's not missing anything."

The hand that was on the doorknob walked away, and Tyler pounded with his fist again.

"Wait! Dad! Please, let me out!"

Someone hit the door hard from the other side.

"Shut your fucking mouth! You don't deserve to leave that room! I know you snuck out last night. I bet you learned that from your dead-beat mom, huh? You both snuck around like the fucking weasels you are. You're just like her. You're no better," The voice spat.

Tyler's chest hurt. His lungs were tight, and his heart was aching. He felt like he couldn't breathe.

This was what dying felt like, he was sure of it.

He needed - he didn't know what he needed. 

Comfort. Yes, he needed comfort. But he didn't need to look around his room to know that he wouldn't find comfort here. 

So he went back to his bed and sat down, staring straight ahead at the wall.

He did not check his phone when it chimed the first time.

Nor the second time.

He was ashamed. Alone, embarassed, ashamed. He didn't want Josh to know what had happened, but that also didn't stop him from relenting and answering his phone call.

"Hey, Josh," Tyler greeted in a low tone, laying down on his bed and facing the ceiling.

"Tyler," Josh sighed, "I thought something bad had happened."

"Nope. Still here."

"Why aren't you at school?"

Tyler groaned, wondering weather to lie to Josh or not. He knew that he should tell Josh the truth. Josh was the only one that would understand.

"I'm just not feeling well," His brain told him to say.

"You can tell me the truth, Ty. C'mon."

Tyler sighed deeply, balling his other hand into a fist and hitting his head, "My door was locked from the outisde. I can't get out till someone else opens it for me."

Silence.

"Who locked it?"

"You know who."

Tyler could feel Josh's anger from the other line.

"So you're just stuck in there, then?" He asked, his pitch raising.

Tyler picked at a piece of loose string from his hoodie, "Yup." He knew Josh was about to say something else, so he interuppted him quickly before he could continue on the same subject.

"Wait, Josh - I don't... Can we talk about something else, please?" He asked, biting his lip.

"Yeah, of course we can. What do you want to talk about?"

"About how it's gonna be. When we move out. Just the two of us."

Josh hummed, "I knew that's what you were going to say."

Tyler chuckled, "Well, we have been best friends for three years now, so that doesn't surprise me."

After Josh agreed with him, he began to tell him how it would be. They wouldn't even need locks, Josh assured him. They wouldn't lock their doors, they'd have plenty of food, and Tyler would be able to roam freely in his own house without feeling on edge with every step.

They'd call it a home.

Weather it was a dingy studio apartment, or a three-story mansion with an extravagant exterior - they'd call it home. 

And they'd be happy. Broke, rich, working too hard, not working hard enough, five kids or no kids - they'd be happy.

"Kids? Like a family?" Tyler asked, surprised.

There was silence on the other line, and Tyler imagined Josh making an _oh shit_ face.

"Um, yeah. Well - I-I didn't mean, like, us together per se, just, like, in general if you had kids with someone, and I had kids with someone," Josh stuttered.

Tyler licked his lips, "So... you wouldn't want to have a family with me?"

Again, silence on the other line.

"I mean... would you want to? With me?" Josh asked.

"I asked you first."

"Well," Josh paused, "Yeah. I would. You're the most wonderful person I've ever met."

Tyler swallowed hard, "But, like, do you have... feelings? For me?"

Josh sighed, "I thought it was kind of obvious," He mumbled.

A smile grew on Tyler's face as his cheeks heated up, "It wasn't obvious to me! How come you never said anything?"

"I don't know I - I guess I just got nervous whenever I tried to say something."

"Nervous around me? Why?" Tyler frowned. He didn't want to make anyone nervous.

"No, not in a bad way, don't worry. It's just that I really value our friendship, you know? So I didn't want to mess anything up."

"Oh," Tyler replied, "That makes sense. I'm glad you told me, though."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

And thanks to Josh, Tyler had a smile on his face for the rest of the day.

His door wasn't unlocked until sometime during the night, and he immediately ran to the bathroom, and then to the kitchen to quickly get a drink of water before someone caught him. He didn't even bother trying to get food.

....

When Tyler was seventeen, he tried so hard to stay strong. But everything had just gotten so much worse.

His stepmom had made fake social media accounts and started to harass him, but he would not dare to confront her, even though he knew it was her.

Confronting her would simply make everything worse. His father still kept himself oblivious and stayed out of the house as often as possible.

The poor boy had hardly gained a pound. His stepmom still viciously hoarded the food supply, and punished him greatly if she ever caught him trying to feed himself. 

Occasionally she made him food when she was feeling good. She'd call him into the dining room and serve him something simple - pasta, grilled chicken, a burrito - and she'd sit and watch him eat.

"Do you like it?" She asked, a smile on her face that churned Tyler's stomach.

He nodded.

"Good. I'm glad. You know, I think the two of us can really bond. We should spend more time together."

And then the next day she'd go back to screaming in his face, locking his door from the outside, and purposefully stealing things from his room while he wasn't there.

It was a cycle he had gotten accustom to.

Like the cycle of depression he had found himself in, and didn't care about himself enough to pick himself out of it.

Josh tried to help - Josh always tried to help. But the scars on Tyler's arms only got deeper and deeper, until his wrist was so torn up he was left with no choice to begin cutting his hips and the soft spaces between his thighs.

But on the especially bad nights, he went to Josh's house and knocked on his window. He knew Josh's parents wouldn't mind if he simply went through the front door, but he'd rather go straight to Josh.

And Josh was petrified one night - he opened the window and Tyler was not crying. He had no emotion in his eyes, and his hands had never been steadier.

Yet he wrapped his arms around Josh's waist, and hugged him tightly with his eyes wide open.

"I want to die, Josh," He whispered.

Josh hugged him just as tightly back, "But I don't want you to die, Tyler."

Tyler didn't respond, so Josh pulled back and kissed him softly on the lips, "I need you. Here. With me."

Tyler flicked his eyes back and forth between Josh's, but he didn't respond.

"Are you listening, Ty?"

He nodded, and his strong composition began to crumble as Josh kissed him with more passion, letting their tongues intertwine and speak their own, silent language.

Tyler hummed low in his throat when Josh pulled him close by the small of his back so that their bodies were pressed against each other's. 

Josh took a step forward and lightly pushed Tyler onto his bed, and then climbed on top of him, kissing him deeply into the mattress.

Tyler tangled his fingers in the back of Josh's hair and pulled him closer - always closer.

"I love you," Josh whispered inbetween kisses.

"Love you more," Tyler replied, just as softly.

But Josh immediately shook his head, as he began kissing down Tyler's neck, "Impossible."

This was an argument that Tyler was okay with letting Josh win.

He kissed his way down Tyler's neck, then peeled both of their shirts off. And - well, they had only ever gone "all the way" once. 

But Tyler was in no way opposed to doing it again. He rather enjoyed this. Especially since he had such a loving partner to take care of him.

Josh made his way down to Tyler's jeans, stopping every few seconds to suck bruises into his skin - bruises that Tyler could look down and smile at.

He pulled Tyler's jeans down and frowned at all of the cuts between his thighs. But when he looked back up at Tyler, the boy had his arm drapes over his eyes so that he couldn't see what Josh was doing. 

With a quick change of plans, Josh crawled back up to Tyler and took his arm from over his eyes, and kissed him deeply.

"I love you so much, Ty."

Tyler whimpered, wrapping his arms around Josh's neck. Tyler watched closely as the other boy put two fingers in his mouth and coated them in saliva. He brought them down between Tyler's legs and let them circle around his entrance.

Tyler instinctively spread his legs wider, either foot planted on opposite sides of the bed.

"Just one more year till it's just the two of us," He whispered, slipping one finger in. Tyler ground down as his eyes fluttered.

"I'm gonna marry you someday," He continued as he slipped another finger in and scissored them.

Tyler threw his head back onto the pillow and moaned, before Josh reminded him they'd have to be quiet since his family is sleeping.

"T-tell me more," Tyler breathed heavily, as Josh kissed the underside of his jaw.

Josh scissored them faster and more thorougly, "I'm gonna propose to you when you least expect it. Gonna take you somewhere beautiful." He slipped in a third finger and Tyler gasped as he finally hit his prostate dead-on.

Josh crashed their lips together, and nipped at Tyler's bottom lip.

"Fuck," Tyler cursed, rocking his hips back and forth with Josh's fingers.

Josh spread his fingers as wide as he could one last time, and then took them out completely. He yanked his pants down and threw them in the pile with Tyler's, as he grabbed a condom from his nightstand.

"What will the wedding be like?" Tyler asked.

Josh looked up from where he was tearing the condom open and slipping it on himself. 

And the scene before him was, quite honestly, breathtaking. Tyler had his legs spread wide open, and his chest heaved up and down with anticipation, as he bit his swollen lips and eagerly awaited Josh.

"Nothing too fancy," He replied after a moment, lining himself up and putting his hands on either side of Tyler to hold himself up.

"We'll just have our close friends and - _fuck_ \- and family," Josh cursed as he pushed himself in.

Tyler squeezed his eyes tight and dug his nails into the back of Josh's shoulders.

"S-sounds - _oh_ \- sounds good," Tyler replied, his mind going a million different places at once as Josh bottomed out.

"Good?" Josh asked.

Tyler didn't know what he was referring to, but he nodded.

And then Josh began rocking the both of them back and forth, picking the pace up with each thrust. The both of them tried to keep quiet, but it was so hard when they just felt so good.

Tyler whimpered with each thrust right into Josh's ear, and began letting out choked-off moans when his thrusts found Tyler's prostate once again.

The sounds went straight to Josh's cock, and he went faster and deeper until his thrusts got sloppy and Tyler wrapped his legs around Josh's waist, throwing his head back onto the pillow. 

"Josh-," Tyler cried out as he came without a single finger on his cock. Josh kept going, though, and just when tears were starting to well up in Tyler's eyes at the oversensitivity, Josh came into the condom.

He collapsed right on top of Tyler, giving himself a few seconds before he finally pulled out. Tyler's chest heaved at the loss of warmth.

Josh tossed the condom into a trash can by his bedside, and only got up to wipe Tyler's chest down with a cloth. 

He re-entered the bed right behind the boy and cuddled him close to his chest. Tyler turned in Josh's arms so that theh were facing each other.

He put one of his legs inbetween Josh's, and stretched his neck up to kiss him softly.

Josh kissed him back, his eyes already fluttering shut.

"Love you, J."

"Love you too, Ty."

They fell asleep peacefully and soundly, until Tyler's eyes blinked back open at 3:30am.

His heart ached as he kissed Josh lightly on the forehead and gathered his clothing, heading out of the window and hissing at the soreness between his legs.

It was okay, though. He'd take pain from Josh any day over the kind of pain his house caused him. He entered the place silently and snuck back into his room. 

And he didn't even get to close his eyes before he was already missing Josh.

....

Josh kept his promise, and Tyler shouldn't've been surprised.

The second they were both eighteen, they moved into a one-bed, one-bathroom apartment together. It was small, but it was theirs.

Tyler felt self-conscious about the weight he was beginning to gain, but Josh made him feel beautiful every moment he got the chance, so his insecurities almost didn't even stand a chance. 

They had their arguments, they had their squabbles, but they were happy, as Josh had promised they would be.

Two weeks after Tyler's 21st birthday, Josh proposed.

Their wedding was small - close family and friends. Most of the guests were from Josh's side.

They adopted a pair of twins, and they could not have been happier.

Tyler's scars were there for a long while, but they eventually faded, with few reoccurrences. He was happy, he was healthy, he was whole.

There were still rough nights that Josh had to hold him through, and every once in awhile he reverted back to when he lived in the hellhole that he used to call a home.

But Josh was there.

Josh was always there.

 _Finally,_ Tyler thought to himself one morning as he traced patterns into a sleeping Josh's chest, _a place to call home._

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this all in one night. Yikes. I'd love to know what you guys think :) 
> 
> Stay safe
> 
> (real-life experiences in this, believe it or not)


End file.
